Talk to the Animals - My Dr Dolittle

Everyone has favorite memories. This picture captures one of mine.

This was Matthew's first birthday. Matthew was busy exploring the yard from the new vantage point of becoming a walker. He noticed everything. Grass. Pinecones. Leaves. Everything looked new and more interesting looking down on them.

Plus

Grandparents were coming for a birthday party. I brought down a broom to sweep the patio. Matt was on his own (right at my feet).

I didn't notice the magic at first. Nope - I didn't realize anything was different, but Matthew did.

While I swept the patio, pulled out the grill, unfolded lawn chairs, Matt was engrossed in a corner next to the steps. Then I heard it. Matt was talking. No not talking to me, but to something in the corner. When I crept over to see just what was so interesting, I heard him again.

"Meow. Meow."

There was no cat.
There was no kitten.
Nope there wasn't a dog either.

Ants. A row of ants.

Matthew was talking to ants with the only animal "words" he knew. "Meow." He had learned his animal language playing with a friend who lived next door. She knew how to talk animal because she had a cat.

Matthew has forgotten how to "talk animal" now. Lots of people forget as they grow older.

Writing Your Story

Even very accomplished, currently famous people, who achieve a great deal of recognition, will be forgotten in the blink of an eye. (Watch "Jeopardy" some evening, the contestants may not remember who was Secretary of State four years ago.)

I am unaware of any ancestors who have a history book written about them. Most likely that won't happen in the future either. A few have been mentioned in a county history. A few have been mentioned in news articles. Some are recognized for military service. Some had political positions. But in the course of time even Presidents are forgotten by most people.

Our family has a nice collection of interesting folks. Most led fairly ordinary lives. Occastionaly they did/do something special or received recognition. As much as I enjoy learning about their lives, their challenges, their accomplishlishments, I also love learning about the simple memories of more recent relatives. My Aunt Lois remembers her Grandmother Poteat's Gingerbread and Sweet Potatoes. Her Grandfather Poteat liked to tell ghost stories and play checkers. My mother-in-law never forgot a birthday. My dad asked great questions.

Everyone has special stories and memories. Hopefully you are recording your stories. The sweet, the sad, the funny, the awe inspiring,and the tender stories all have a place in "your story".

If you were sitting around the table talking about your freshman year in high school, what story is always shared.... write it down. If you could see your best friend from fourth grade, what would you talk about... write it down. My most embarassing moment in junior high ... was when I slid down a dry spillway for a large pool. I tipped back on my heels and my backside. The concrete surface was rough like sandpaper; so when I got to the bottom of the grade, the back of my shorts was gone. I had to walk home through two neighborhoods with an almost bare backside.

Every life has ups and downs, choices to make and outcomes that follow. Somethings are private for now. Someday you may find a reason to share when feelings once tender have healed. Those are personal decisions. Your Story is yours to share as You choose. I encourage you to record memories that will help your family through the years.

Someone said, "A life recorded is a life twice lived."

John Bishop Harry

Birth: Mar. 7, 1774
Death: Feb. 10, 1868

John Bishop Harry and his wife Sarah Ann traveled to Lincoln County , NC on their honeymoon in a covered wagon. They settled in Lincolntown where he kept the old tavern and inn. By trade he was also a silversmith, clock maker and gunsmith.

In 1835 John Bishop, whose nickname was "John Bull", was a State Senator representing Lincoln County . He took an active part in the organization of Cleveland County in 1840-41. He help survey the new county and lay out the county seat, Shelby .

He surveyed the bounds of the new county (Cleveland NC) and laid out the court house square and the streets of Shelby, the county seat of the new county. Shortly after the new county was formed, he purchased a large tract of land in the southern end of the new county which on its south side joined the South Carolina state line. Here, he established his home on Buffalo Creek. Later he built a home and moved to a new location about 2 miles south of his first home. Here he lived the rest of his life. He established a great slave plantation on this farm which included about 8 square miles.

Buried ( Near Gaston, York Co. NC.?) in Old Shiloh Pres. Church cemetery about a half mile inside the South Carolina line from his big plantation and about 3 miles from his old home place.


An unfortunate accident befell John Bishop while returning from Raleigh on horseback. He was caught in a heavy thunderstorm and thoroughly drenched for hours. The dye from the red lining of his hat mixed with the rain and ran in his eyes. It injured his eyesight and he was almost blind during the last years of his life.

John Bishop owned many slaves and over a thousand acres between Buffalo Creek and the South Carolina line. The land lay along a stream called Jacob's Branch. There he built a large home for his wife and family. After the death of Sarah Ann, he sold his home to Major Borders. He moved two miles up the road and built a smaller, rectangular home with one large room, a fireplace in the south and two pot racks at the north end. He had a dozen slaves that lived nearby and assisted him. Here he lived out his last years in luxury and comfort. A beautifully executed will in his own handwriting shows that he was well educated. It is also interesting to note that a map of his property made by him showed the location of a money swamp where gold, silver and Confederate money was hidden during the War Between the States. The money swamp was never found.

s/o David & Anna Bishop Harry

A different side of W G Harry

As an adult looking back at my grandfather, he was an "old man" in his late 50's and beyond. We know parents and grandparents from our vantage point. Our children and grandchildren see us as the people we have become. These pictures are from the Universtiy of North Carolina college yearbook, the "Yackty Yack". They show his classmates view of who he was.

(As an aside, the yearbook did not play it safe in describing students. A number of comments regarding other students were very biting and judgemental.)

While I never thought of my grandfather as a "Bull Moose", the reference seems to apply to his defense of Teddy Roosevelt in a debate. Another article shows he was a big man on campus, he was on a select student government "Grand Council". Apparently it was a select group of student government campus representatives. Hope to include a picture and comments.






The young man in the lower picture is not identified. Mother told me that the college asked him to have an extremely young roommate. The young man was the youngest college student accepted at UNC at that time. Apparently he went on to become someone of prominence in some way. But this might not be the same person.

http://library.digitalnc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/yearbooks/id/856   This is a link to the digital copy of the yearbook.

Granddaddy always felt close to UNC. Mother and I took him back for his 50th reunion.


In 1910 Granddaddy Harry was a census enumerator.

 https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-267-11573-36460-11?cc=1727033&wc=M9WN-78J:1554826732  Try this link if you are interested in seeing his handwriting.

		F
		F

Head	David F Harry	M	59	North Carolina
Wife	Fanny G Harry	F	60	North Carolina
Daughter	Maggie L Harry	F	22	North Carolina
Son	Woodfin G Harry	M	19	North Carolina
Son	Benjamin A Harry	M	18	North Carolina

 

Poteat Family Home

***

Grandmother Bennett often spoke about Cherokee Springs. As a girl I pictured it as someplace far away, but it was right in Spartanburg County. My mother clipped thisr this article which appeared in the Spartanburg Herald, Thursday, September 3, 1981. John Henry Poteat, my great grand father owned it. At one time it had been landmark for the area; however, it was not in the years he owned it. The article is repeated below.

****
There were times when Cherokee Springs was - to borrow some 1950's ling - a boppin' place.

Mineral spring water was perceived as a natural health potion in the 1800s and the early part of this century. (1900's) Cerokee Springs had plenty of it. A hotel there attracted tourist from the North for the benefits thought to be derived from drinking the draught. The spring area was well groomed for guests and area residents and was the local point of the community.

In the summers of her youth, 79-year-onl Ruth Williams spent many hours around that meeting spot. "@e had swings in those big trees, the grass was kept cut and there was a real wide concrete walkway around the water, which was in a three-foot wide pool," she remembers.

"There was a group of young people here then. That's where we had our good times - our picnics and our fun. ......

I will post the rest later.

Market House in Elizabeth-town started with help of Martin Harry

Martin Harry and several other men obtained permission to build a Market House for their city.  (Elizabeth-town became Hagerstown in 1815.)  They were responcible for insuring weights used were accurate. Market days were Wednesday and Saturday; so families could plan their shopping trips and farmers could plan their market days to sell their goods.
It sounds a "little monopolistic" - also like a pre-walmart.

CHAP. XI.
An ACT to establish a market-house in Elizabeth-town, in Washington county, and for the regulation of the same.

Preamble. WHEREAS it has been represented to this general assembly, by sundry inhabitants of Washington county, that they labour under many great inconveniencies, for want of a market-house in Elizabeth-town, in said county; that a large and commodious space of ground was laid out for that purpose, in the center of said town, and appropriated for said purpose; and that the said petitioners propose to build thereon at their own expence; and it appearing reasonable to grant the prayer of said petition: Therefore, Commissioners to lay out ground, &c.

II. Be it enacted, by the general assembly of Maryland, That Henry Shryock,
Matthias Need, and Martin Harry, be and are hereby nominated and appointed commissioners, who are vested with full power and authority, in virtue of this act, to lay out a certain portion or part of the said reserved ground, as before mentioned, in said town, for the purpose of building a market-house thereon, and to contract with fit and proper persons for the building a house, not less than fifty feet in length and thirty in breadth, for a market-house, for the use of the inhabitants of said town and county.

III. And be it enacted, That the said portion of ground, laid out by the said
commissioners as aforesaid, shall be bounded. To be bounded, &c.

IV. And be it enacted, That from and after the twentieth day of August next,two days in every week shall be held as market days within the town of Elizabeth aforesaid, to wit, Wednesdays and Saturdays; and victuals and provisions whatsoever, brought to the said town for sale, except beef by the quarter or large quantity, and pork by the hog or hogs, upon those or any other days, shall be carried to the public market-house of the said town, there to be sold to the inhabitants, at the stated market hours, to wit, from any time in the morning to twelve at noon. Market days, &c.

V. And be it enacted, That no inhabitant of the said town, or other person, shall presume to buy, or cause to be bought, or any person or persons, being and within one mile thereof, or having brought any kind of victuals or provisions whatsoever to the said market for sale (except as before excepted) either upon the above stated market days, or any other day of the week, during the time of the above stated market hours, at any other place whatsoever, but at or in the aforesaid market-house, under the penalty of twenty shillings current money for every such offence, to be recovered by warrant, before any justice of the peace for Washington county, or the county where the person shall reside, as in case of small debts, to be paid to such person as the commissioners aforesaid shall appoint as their clerk of the market in Elizabeth-town aforesaid, to be by them applied to the repairing of the said market-house, and such other purposes as they may think necessary. Penalty on persons buying provisions out of market, &c.

VI. And be it enacted, That no person whatsoever, after the time aforesaid,
bringing or sending, or having brought or sent, any provisions or victuals to the said town for sale, shall presume to sell, or cause to be sold, the said victuals or
provisions so bringing or sending, or brought or sent, as aforesaid, to the said town, or within one mile thereof (except as before excepted) under the penalty
of ten shillings current money, with costs as aforesaid (if a free person) to be recovered, paid and applied, as aforesaid. On persons selling, &c.

VII. And be it enacted, That if any person or persons shall hereafter presume to slaughter or butcher any cattle kind, sheep or hogs, in or near about the said market-house, that he or they, so doing, shall forfeit and pay seven shillings and six-pence current money for every such offence, to be recovered, paid and applied, as aforesaid, with cost aforesaid. On persons slaughtering cattle, &c.

VIII. And be it enacted, That if any person shall sell, or offer for sale, any meat within the said market which shall be blown, in such case it shall and may be lawful for the clerk of the said market to seize all such meat sold or offered for sale in the said market, and the same to condemn to and for the use of the prisoners confined in Washington county gaol; and the butcher, or other person, for every such offence, shall forfeit and pay the sum of twenty shillings current money, which shall be applied as aforesaid. Blown meat to be seized, &c.

IX. And be it enacted, That from and after the twentieth day of August next, all such and every article of provision sold by weight within the said market, shall
be weighed in scales and weights tried by the standard of the county, or the standard to be provided and kept by the commissioners aforesaid. Provisions to
be weighed in scales, &c.

X. And be it enacted, That the clerk of said market shall have power and authority to take the possession, care and charge, of the market and market-house Clerk's duty,&c.

CHAP.XI.
LAWS of MARYLAND.
aforesaid, during his continuance in office, and to inspect all provisions brought thereto for sale, and destroy any he shall find and adjudge unsound or unwholesome; and also to try the weights and measures used at the said market by standards,if any provided and kept there by said commissioners of said market for that purpose, and the same, when false or untrue, to seize and dispose to the highest bidder, and shall pay the money arising from such sale to the said commissioners, to be by them applied as aforesaid; and the clerk of the said market (unless revented by sickness, or other unavoidable accident or necessity all, and he is hereby required to attend in the said market, at such hours as the commissioners may appoint at the different seasons; and if such clerk shall neglect or refuse to attend as aforesaid, he shall, for every such offence, forfeit and pay the sum of five shillings current money, to be recovered by the commissioners of said market for the time being, before any justice of the peace for Washington county, to be paid and applied by them to the use aforesaid; and the said clerk may be removed and displaced by said commissioners for the time being at their pleasure or direction.

Horses not to be put under market-house,&c.

XI. And, whereas it has been practised by people coming in from the county,
to tie their horses in the said market-house, which is very indecent, and offensive
to the inhabitants of the said town; Be it enacted, That any person or persons,
who shall, after the time aforesaid, put their own, or any other person's horse,
mare or gelding, into or under the said market-house, on any pretence whatsoever,
he or they shall pay or forfeit two shillings and six-pence current money, with
cost aforesaid, to be recovered, paid and applied, as aforesaid. Justices to fill up vacancies, &c.

XII. And be it enacted, That if any person appointed commissioner by this act, shall die, refuse, or otherwise be rendered incapable to discharge the duties enjoined by this act, that the justices of Washington county may nominate and appoint some person or persons in his or their place, so as to make the number of three commissioners as aforesaid, that the commissioners so appointed shall have the same powers as the commissioners appointed by this act.

David Harry - tax collector 1803 Washington County, Maryland

1803.

NOVEMBER. LAWS OF MARYLAND.

CHAP. XCII.

On application,chancellor may dived a sale,&c.

An ACT for the valuation of real and personal property within this state.

Passed 7th of January, 1804,

BE IT ENACTED, by the General Assembly of Maryland, That all real and personal property, in this state, except property belonging to this state, or the United States, houses for public worship,burying-grounds, or property belonging to any county, or to any college, or to any county school, and except also the crop and produce of the land in the hands of the person whose land produced the same, or in the hands of the tenant, and provisions necessary for the use and consumption of the person to whom the same shall belong, an.d his family, for the year, and plantation utensils, the working tools of mechanics and manufacturers, actually and constantly employed in their respective Properly to be valued occupations, wearing apparel, goods, wares and merchandise, and all home made manufactures in the hands of manufacturers, all ready money, all grain and tobacco, and all licensed vessels whatever, shall be valued agreeably to the directions of this act, and shall be chargeable according to such valuation with the public assessment.
Commissioners to be appointed, &c.

II. AND BE IT ENACTED, That five sensible, discreet and experienced persons, shall be appointed in each- county of this state, who shall be commissioners of the tax, and they, or any three or more of them, shall be commissioners for the county for which they shall severally be appointed; and five persons as aforesaid shall be appointed, and called Commissioners of the Tax for the City of Baltimore, for the same time.
Their names.
III. AND BE IT ENACTED, That the following persons shall be and are hereby appointed commissioners for the several and respective counties of this state, and for the city of Baltimore, to wit :
For Saint-Mary's county, Jame....for Washington county, Martin Kershner, William Webb, David Harry, Frisby Tiighman and James M'Clain; for Montgomery county, Wi